My Boy Scout career began with Troop 86 in Olathe, Kansas. Although I don’t attend any meetings these days, my scouting registration is still through the troop. We celebrated our 75th anniversary in 2005 and as part of the celebration a book was put together about the history of the troop, aptly titled, “Troop 86 History.”
The book includes the text from several newspaper articles recounting the beginnings of scouting in Olathe. One article from The Olathe Mirror dated July 24, 1930 caught my attention. It reads:
Raise Funds for Boy Scouts
“Camp George” Algire located West of Olathe
Permanent Cabins to be Erected
…”Camp George Algire” is a beautiful plat of 40 acres situated on the Creek (Cedar Creek) 4 1/2 miles west of Olathe on the newly chatted road. F.W. Sickles who constructed a new bridge at this point reports a stream of water was encountered 8 feet below the surface…This means that the swimming pool which is to be built will have an abundant flow of fresh, cool, water at all times. Permanent cabins are to be built for the three Olathe troops and the Deaf School. The camp is to be thrown open for the use of all Boy Scout Troops in Johnson County and it is certain we will have boys in camp at all times during the camping season.
Sounds promising, right? Well, sadly the book states that although several campouts were held on the land, a few months later the property was sold and no further plans were carried out.
I did a little searching and found the location of the camp. The Johnson County Historical Society has digitized old atlases of the county. Here is a view of the general area mentioned in the article.
The northeast portion of section 31 is labeled Willard Algire. The northern boundary is 135th Street or Santa Fe Street in Olathe. This is also known as Prairie Center Road. It is not clear weather Willard was George’s father or if the “W” in G.W. Algire stands for “Willard”. The atlas also indicates that the property is 160 acres, while the camp is listed as 40 acres. A portion of the property may have been sold between 1922 (date of the atlas) and 1930 (date of the article).
Here’s the location of the property from Google Maps:
Of particular interest to me is that house where I grew up in Olathe is a little less than three miles from Camp George Algire.
This begs the question, are there more Boy Scout Camps in the Kansas City area that were short lived?
Broad Kaw Valley 
Leave a Reply